Long-Range Expert…Or Poser?

Heart shot at 340 yards in significant but steady wind. Know that your shot will strike vitals.

To Shoot or Not to Shoot?

I am a hunter. As a hunter, I’ve learned to understand when a shot is solid or ill-advised and whether to attempt it. Whether using a recurve, compound bow, spear, or various forms and calibers of the modern hunting rifle, it isn’t all that hard to understand what a high-percentage shot looks like or feels like. Is a long range shot in your wheelhouse? The real challenge often is learning to respect the sport of hunting and the animals you harvest. For me that took time.

I’ve taken at least my fair share of unethical shots at big game, by my own definition. There, I said it. This is the truth. I get excited and I talk myself into a crappy shot. I can rationalize it one hundred ways, but the result is the same. For instance, I’ve never lost a hit big game animal; however, I’ve compromised my so-called ethics every time I’ve done it.

Long Range Hunting

Long range hunting isn’t the realm only of the rifle. Anyone taking a shot with their bow can also experience a long-range success or failure. Although, I’ve written this article more specifically to cover long-range hunting with a rifle, most of the discussion applies to any projectile-based hunting. “Long range” is a bit nebulous but I’m going to define it as any range at which standard old-school holdover practices no longer apply. For rifles, this is generally out past about 400 or 450 yards. For muzzleloaders it may be around 200 yards.

I admire those accomplished hunters who’ve learned to consistently take animals at long range. Hell, I admire those who can ring the steel in a silhouette match at the top of their game. There comes a point in your life, hopefully, with any hobby or sport where you arrive at the next level. Good long-range hunters are next-level hunters to my way of thinking. I admire them especially because I know they worked hard to achieve expertise.

Long Range Posers

I risk getting a lot of hate mail over this article. Fine…boo hoo. Hunters are under assault from ignorant fools who want nothing short of stopping us outright. We owe it to our sport and the other hunters to have exemplary ethical standards. We actually owe it to the respect of the animals we harvest, but at a damned minimum we owe it to our sport. This article is meant to provide you with something to think about. I’m not judging. Who (literally) am I to judge? I am not without sin in this regard anyway, as I’ve already stated. Please contemplate the ethical choices below and judge for yourself.

I like Jeff Foxworthy. I like his “you might be a redneck…” shtick. It makes sense to me and it makes me laugh. I submit to you that the practices outlined below are truly the acts of long-range posers who endanger not only the sport of long-range hunting but all of hunting. If this describes you, please consider whether it might be time to evolve for the sake of your sport, the game animals, and the hunting community.

You Might be a Long-Range Poser if:

You Can’t Make the Cold Barrel Shot Four out of Five Times

The silhouette guys get test rounds before they start their shoot. Why? To calibrate the rest of their shots against existing conditions. Wind, temperature, and other variables can be quickly estimated and recalibrated to help guide the remainder of their shots to their steel targets. As hunters, we don’t get test shots…well I suppose you could do test shots on a rock near your quarry, but I doubt that would result in a good outcome when you want to take that kill shot. We don’t get test shots.

To be a competent long-range hunter you will need to do all of the math and estimating that makes your first shot count. This means that your first (cold-barrel) shot must land inside the kill zone when you pull that trigger. This is no longer theoretical. The proof is in the eating of the pudding, as they say. So prove it to yourself…go to the range, pick a moderately long range you think is in your wheelhouse, and have a go. Did you hit the steel? If not, you might be a long-range poser. Only you can decide what percentage maintains your ethical standard, but I’d offer a starting point of four out of five, or at least three out of four.

You Don’t Study Wind

Wind makes a big difference in point of impact and it gets worse with distance. At 800 yards, being off by a couple miles per hour will result in missed vitals. To compound this, the wind may be blowing more or less near you than at the target. There is a bit of science in estimating wind, but mostly it comes down to lots of careful practice.

I watched an episode of a popular hunting show recently and the star of the show missed an elk at 400+ yards…twice! Was that an ethical shot? Maybe. Maybe. What he had failed to recognize was that the wind was mild at his location and fierce near the elk. He missed wide-right twice. This, from an experienced hunter. You might be a long-range poser if you don’t learn to study and respect the impact of wind on your shot.

You Shoot Long Range at a Moving Target

Do I even have to bring this one up? If an animal is moving even at a five mph walk, this will make a massive difference at long range. If the animal is running, you have zero chance of making a good estimate. A shot at a moving animal at any kind of long range is simply dumb luck. Do not pat yourself on the back for making a “skilled” shot. I’ve killed some running animals at ranges between 400 and 600 yards. It sickens me to say this. I’m sorry for this. I can use the adrenaline as an excuse…whatever, but I was behaving like a jackass.

The errors you fight at long range on moving animals make these shots stupid-dumb luck, at best. There are hunters who can take a running shot on big game at near ranges with repeatability. If you can call your shot, go for it. If you can’t, and you are just hoping to hit hide, please don’t. Taking a long shot at an unwounded running animal may indeed qualify you as a long-range poser. What do you think?

You Don’t Calibrate Your Loads

Computers kick ass! Now we can have sophisticated external ballistics calculations on our smartphones at the touch of a button! Plug in your muzzle velocity, temp, altitude, humidity, wind speed, wind angle, sight height, zero range, and a few other doo-dads. Range your animal, plug in the range, dial up your turret and shoot, right? Not!

You cannot trust either ballistic coefficients or starting muzzle velocities unless you measure them. Ballistic coefficients are a function of bullet speed, which changes constantly (hence, BC is constantly changing). To really understand your load and your calculator, you must calibrate it for your exact load and at least average conditions. This means you must shoot groups at several ranges and adjust your curves to minimize the error envelope. Once you’ve done this at multiple ranges, you can then manage the smaller errors in your calculations. Unless you do this, you are quite probably a long-range poser.

You Don’t Have any Clue About Coriolis and the Effects of Bullet Spin (Spin Drift)

Both of these factors, Coriolis effect and Spin Drift, have only modest impact on bullet flight path until you get out to 700 yards and beyond. Coriolis is a fancy word for the spin of the earth. It’s why water spins down a drain. When the bullet leaves your barrel at point A, the earth keeps turning and your target is doing some combination of coming toward you, moving away from you, or moving laterally to you. This can impact elevation and windage adjustments. This only matters a few inches at 800 or 1000 yards in central North America, but it is still another factor that compounds on top of other factors.

Spin Drift is a result of the tendency of a gyroscope to point slightly in the direction of spin. As you bullet tips slightly to one side due to spin, it gently drifts to that side. Like with Coriolis, this doesn’t make much difference until you start getting out to 600 or 800 yards, but gee, isn’t that the realm of the badass long-range shooter? Indeed it is, and this is yet another reason that competitive shooters get to take some test shots before going for the money. Look, I’m not saying Coriolis and Spin Drift will make or break your shot, but if you’ve never even heard of these, you might want to do a bit of reading and experimenting both with your software and at the range.

You Back up to Take a Shot

Ok, on this one I’m tempted to judge, maybe just a little. If you have an animal dead to rights and you elect to move away from that animal to extend the length of the shot, you are a long-range poser. More than that, you clearly need to evaluate your respect for hunting and the animals you hunt. I’ve heard stories of a guy having a cow elk at a comfortable 400 yards, but backing up to take the shot (successfully) at 700 yards. This isn’t hunting in any real sense of the word. Straight-up this is ego, selfishness, and maybe even narcissism. Luckily, the stories I’ve heard had happy endings so you could argue it is no big deal. BS. This is a purely unethical practice. The guys likely just don’t brag so much about the misses or the lost three-legged or gut-shot animals.

What’s your opinion? Do hunters who back up to take a shot at a living creature deserve to have the privileges of a hunter? Do these stories anger or embolden enemies of hunting? Is there anything you can say in defense of this practice?

Some Caveats

If you know you’ve wounded an animal then all bets are really off at that point. A wounded animal is a special case, and this is one time where having competency and a good rig at long range may serve you very well. You may be better off to take that shot at 500 yards than to try to get closer. In this case, you are most definitely doing an ethical thing…you are trying to make amends for a bad situation. Just be sure of the animal you’ve wounded and don’t wound a second!

Is there a time to take a gamble when long-range hunting? Each hunter needs to answer for themselves. Long-range varmint shooting may be the place for those of you wanting to supplement target practice with some real-world scenarios. If you tap a prairie dog at 500 yards with a 90 grain .243 load, it is dead. For the most part, same with a coyote tagged at 800 yards by a 165 grain 7mm bullet. Is there a grey area here? I don’t know the answer to this question, but hitting small varmints with big guns at long ranges may be reasonable. What are the odds of wounding a prairie dog or jackrabbit with a bullet traveling north of 2,000 fps? I think you might find, however, that the best idea is to join the local silhouette club and take out your long-range ambitions on steel!

Parting Shots

I fully understand this article is going to upset some people, maybe even some really competent folks. More likely, it might be just cutting a little too close to the bone for some who know they are being unethical. Either way, it isn’t for me to judge per se. Only you can decide what your ethics are afield and how you will behave when no one else is looking. I’ve made a lot of choices in the field that I now consider to be unethical. I know it is tempting when that monster bull or buck is tantalizingly within the possibility of your setup…

I admit, there are some grey areas here, and each hunter must choose for themselves. When you hang it up that evening after a long day hunting, will you be proud of yourself? Did you contribute to conservation and ethical hunting? Did you set an example you’d be proud to follow? Really, only you can say.